In September 2017 my wife and I went to Old Quebec City for a three day visit to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary. This was my first time to Quebec City and our goal while visiting was to focus on the popular tourist destination of the Old Quebec City district.

For this trip we took the VIA Rail train from Ottawa to Old Quebec City. Taking the train is a great way to travel. It is very comfortable, relaxing and quiet. Our time going through both Ottawa and Quebec City train stations were very quick and enjoyable. The route from Ottawa to Quebec City has several stops, so a one-way trip takes approximately six hours. Six hours may seem like a long time, but on the ride back it gave me ample time to work on my laptop to cull and edit my photographs from our three day visit to Old Quebec City.

For anyone considering going to Old Quebec City, be aware that there is a lot of walking. A LOT. It is all explored on foot. And the area of Old Quebec City is on the side of a hill, so there are several levels or tiers to the buildings which results in many stairs. Be prepared to get your weekly workout. That being said, it is a beautiful photo rich environment with very kind people. A great place to shop, see the incredible work put into preserving these centuries old buildings and to enjoy the cafes and restaurants.

On this trip I packed the graphite Fujifilm XT2 and three lenses. Most of my walk around photography was done with the 1973 Canon 24mm f2.8 SCC. I did capture several images where a longer reach was needed with the 1966 Minolta Rokkor 58mm f1.4 and for just a couple photos where I needed the ultra wide and/or image stabilization, I used the Fujifilm 10-24mm f4. Film simulation modes are typically Velvia for colour and Acros + R for B&W.

Mid September 2017 my wife and I visited the popular MOSAICANADA 150 garden in Gatineau, Quebec. This unique and impressive garden was created as part of the popular Canada 150 years of history celebrations. The garden is located in the “Parc Jacques-Cartier” (Jacques-Cartier Park) next to the Alexandra Bridge. Here is a Google Map link to the exact location.

Admission to this garden is free and it’s certainly a garden to visit should you be in the area. Here is a copy/paste from their website:

Canada’s 10 provinces and 3 territories, as well as First Nations Québec and Labrador, unite to present 33 masterful works over five historical sectors. The horticultural friendship uniting Canada with Shanghai and Beijing has also led to coloured works of art which will delight your eye.

For the photography enthusiasts, I photographed the park entirely with the Fuji XT2 and the 1973 Canon 24mm F2.8 SCC vintage lens. There were only a few pics at the huge Mother Earth display where I used the 1966 Minolta Rokkor 58mm F1.4. Because of the crowds it is very difficult to take photos and not have people in the shot. But in cases where there are people in the pictures it helped to give perspective to how large some of the displays are. The time of day and lighting were all wrong for outdoor, well lit subjects … but that’s what happens when on vacation and visiting a location for only an hour. Even with the very harsh midday sun, I’m still happy with the results and the keepsake images I captured.

In the summer of 2016 my family went for a short sight seeing vacation to Montreal City. Since this was our first trip to Montreal, we kept things simple by staying at a hotel downtown that was just a short walk from Old Montreal.

With camera in hand, I enjoyed searching for interesting architecture (of which there was plenty) and interesting vantage points. For this trip I took a couple lenses however I found that I only used the excellent street/architecture/landscape lens, the stabilized Fuji 10-24mm F4.

In early July 2017 my wife and I spent a day in the area of the scenic 1000 Islands. During our visit, home base was the pretty little town of Gananoque. A picturesque town in the 1000 Islands area of the St. Lawrence River.

Boldt Castle was very impressive. The restoration work that has been ongoing for decades is outstanding. While in the castle we viewed a 15 minute video that explained the history of the site. This is a must watch video. It was very informative and gave greater context to what we saw as we walked around the property. Something we learned from the video was the common theme of hearts that are present in the landscaping and architecture. Once we learned of that theme, it was fun to look for them as we toured the property. Some of the heart accents are illustrated my photographs.

Since this site is to share my non-professional photography, I’ll share a bit of gear info. On this trip I took the Fujifilm Graphite XT2 with the Fujifilm 10-24mm F4 and vintage Minolta 58 F1.4. The images of the boat arriving to the dock, the images taken while on the boat as we toured the 1000 Islands, the castle from the water and the last image of the castle’s impressive boathouse were all take with the 1960’s Minolta 58mm. While visiting Boldt Castle, the only lens used was the Fujifilm 10-24mm. I only used the Fuji 10-24mm because it allowed me to shoot ultra-wide while walking around the beautiful property and the interior of the castle. All images are out-of-camera JPGs (B&W were film simulation Acros) with some editing in Lightroom to straighten, crop and/or small highlight and shadow adjustments.